Leroux joins impressive list with five goals

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- She was jeered in what she calls her hometown. It certainly did not deter striker Sydney Leroux in her second appearance with the U.S. national team on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Leroux, who hails from the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, scored five goals in the second half of the United States' 13-0 victory over Guatemala in the CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying tournament. The Americans, who play Mexico to determine first place in their group on Tuesday, clinched a spot in Friday's semifinals.

For the second consecutive game, a U.S. forward tallied five second-half goals as Amy Rodriguez accomplished the feat in a 14-0 win over the Dominican Republic on Friday.

"This is a unique situation," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage said. "It is astounding, coming off the bench and scoring so many goals like Amy Rodriguez did the other day.

"I'm so proud and happy to be around this team because it just never happened before. So many goals, great goals. I'm happy for the team. I'm happy for Syd, today. It's quality, for sure."

Leroux, the first player taken in the Women's Professional Soccer draft (by the Atlanta Beat) earlier this month, joined am impressive list of players who have scored an American women's record of five goals in a game. That list also included Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, Abby Wambach and Tiffeny Milbrett.

After playing for several Canadian national youth teams, Leroux decided to play for the United States in 2008. She was criticized for her decision.

"I know that there's some people who don't respect my decision and some people who do. Not everyone's going to like you," she said. "I feel you have to have some enemies in life or else you're not doing something right. I'm happy. I'm happy where I am. I'm happy to wear this jersey."

For a good portion of the final 45 minutes, a section of Canadian fans continued to chant, "Judas!"

"I heard that some people were booing me, but after the fourth goal they stopped," she said

When told they continued, Leroux responded, "They should have."

With the Americans already leading 6-0, Leroux replaced Wambach at halftime. Barely three minutes after she stepped onto the BC Place field, Leroux converted, putting away an Alex Morgan feed. She also scored in the 51st, 57th, 70th and 87th minutes.

Leroux was gracious and deflected praise to her teammates.

"Of course, my teammates, they gave me some great balls and I put them away and did what I was supposed to do with them," she said. "It's been an amazing couple of weeks. I'm so blessed to be able to play with these girls. It has made me better every day. So, I give my thanks to them."

It certainly meant a lot accomplishing it in front of friends and family.

"It was so important to play in front of my mom and my family, my friends," she said. "I grew up here. To have them come and support me, it's pretty special."

Leroux could have had a sixth goal, but goalkeeper Maricruz Lemus denied her in a one-on-one situation in the penalty area in the 90th minute.

"I was thinking that I was going to slot it kind of near post, but usually in that situation I would do something different," she said. "But I tried a little something different out and it didn't work. It's OK. I have something to look forward to in years to come."

"By her 20th game she should reach my level," Wambach said. "I think that it's awesome. I don't know why it has happened, but me, Amy Rodriguez, and now Sydney have all scored five goals in the second half. A special player.

"Before she went on, I told her, start scoring goals for this country. These are the first of five goals of many, many more to come."